“These refugees have no home, no team, no flag, no national anthem”, IOC president Thomas Bach said after the organisation’s executive board confirmed the group at a meeting in Lausanne.
Advertisement
IOC President, Thomas Bach, said the team would compete in swimming, athletics and judo events at the August 5 to August 21 Games, tagged “a symbol of hope”.
They will take part in competitions such as swimming and judo; the majority in track and field.
But half of the athletes on Team Refugee will be short-distance runners from South Sudan who are now training in Kenya. While the war has officially ended, recovery is far from complete and violence continues in areas far from the capital of Juba. All Video News Releases on the IOC Newsroom are offered free of charge to all news agencies, broadcasters and online news platforms.
On hearing the news Friday afternoon, Mardini shared her delight with fans on her Facebook page, writing, “I’m so happy for that, I can’t describe how I feel and I wanna thank everyone who helped me to arrive to this point”.
“You can’t let people think that just because they are refugees, they have to stop doing what they do because they are refugees”, Misenga said. They’ve boarded inflatable boats and grown up in refugee camps. The U.N. estimates more than 450,000 Congolese have fled to neighboring countries.
The picked refugee team members will also be covered by the Olympics in terms of any airfare, preparation, and will also be taking care of the refugees after the games are over, reported the Olympics official website.
Mardini, the teenage Syrian swimmer, has generated heavy media attention. She’s been training with the Tegla Loroupe Foundation (named after her current coach) ever since. She was officially recognized as a refugee in March.
Yonas Kinde is a 36-year-old marathon runner from Ethiopia who fled his home country in 2012 and now lives in Luxembourg. She is a native of Bukavu, the region that was hardest hit during the DRC’s civil war.
“By carrying the Olympic Torch, people from all over the world will know that refugees are real people and that we can do positive things”, she added.
Advertisement
For the past two decades, the IOC – a not-for-profit independent worldwide organisation made up of volunteers – has used sport as a vehicle for positive development among young refugees in camps and settlements around the world, establishing sports programs, providing coaches and trainers, facilities and equipment. “It has a good balance between sports popular in Japan and those better engaging youth like surfing, skateboarding and sports climbing”.
